Facts and Myths of Browsing and Searching in a Digital Library

Abstract

In recent times, there has been increased interest in the querying of digital libraries (DLs). This is due in part to the development of the WWW, which enables easy access to both centralised and distributed digital library sources. The majority of published works on querying DLs are associated with information retrieval (IR), also known as digital querying. Information retrieval techniques are popular with querying DLs due to their flexibility in querying semi-structured data. In contrast, database querying of DLs has been largely ignored until only recent years. The key aspects of database querying of DLs involve the integration of database querying with browsing or navigating techniques to query semi-structured data. Our interest lies in developing the relatively limited database query facilities currently available to users of DLs, and a key stage in this process is to define what kinds of searching and browsing typical users would like to perform.

In this poster we will present the planning of an analysis of user browsing and searching strategies in the SuperJournal1 digital library (SJDL). The browse and search strategies suggested for the analysis are derived from the navigational strategies for a database (see table 1) proposed by Canter, Rivers and Storrs. This derivation of browse and search strategies (for a DL) from the navigational strategies (of a database) will serve to highlight the similarities and differences between browsing/searching in DLs and databases. The proposed analysis is based on the activity logfiles of users of the SJDL, which are logged as ASCII files and are converted to SPSS files for statistical analysis purposes. These logfiles represent over two years worth of digital library browse and search activities.